1. Are you afraid of the dark?
Recall the elements of American Gothic (pages )
Read Edgar Allan Poe’s Bio on page 402.
Discussion:
Recall a time when you were scared. How much of that fear was a result of your imagination?
What is your favorite scary movie, and why?
What are some common traits in scary movies?
Why do we watch scary movies and read horror fiction?
Can a terrifying feeling sometimes be enjoyable?
What do you think the title “Fall of the House of Usher” means?
What mood does the image convey on page 405?
How does Poe’s unstable life resemble a story of Gothic horror?

2. The Brooding Romantics…
Life was colorful, capricious, and contradictory
Evil does exist in this world.
Placed emphasis on emotion, nature, and the individual
Used imagination to explore the darker side of the human experience
Explored the negative forces at work in the human psychology and their effect on human life
saw symbols, spiritual truths, and signs in nature and everyday events.
Grotesque characters, violent events, bizarre situations, elements of fantasy and supernatural

3. Edgar Allan Poe’s Influence
Goes to the extreme…
Live Burials
Physical and mental torture
Retribution beyond the grave
Fascination with the macabre (disturbing/horrifying)

4. Gothic Art
…check it out.

6. “The Nightmare” by Henri Fuseli
Interpret this painting by telling the story of what happened here or by explaining the symbolic meaning behind the piece. Include all key players—the woman, the horse, and the creature on her chest. Share this with the people around you when cued.

8. Poe has been called “the father of the modern short story” because he was the first to define it as a distinct literary form. In a review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales, he expressed his theory of the construction of a “tale”…
A skilful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out, he then invents such incidents—he then combines such events as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived effect. If his very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then he has failed in his first step. In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design. And by such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction.

9. Poe and Psychology Horror vs. Terror: What is the difference?
Mental illness vs. health: Poe died before science of psychology came into existence
Appearance vs. reality: We are supposed to trust the narrator—he’s the 19th century scientist, so well-educated & thoughtful that you won’t question his perceptions…but should you?